Tiger Woods crashes out on PGA Tour return… but so do world No 1 Jason Day and Dustin Johnson

TIGER WOODS’ eagerly-awaited return to the PGA Tour proved a damp squib as he crashed out of the Farmers Insurance Open last night.

Woods managed a four shot improvement on his dismal opening 76 at Torrey Pines, but his level par 72 still left him way outside the cut line.

Woods, 41, was playing his first official Tour event in 19 months, after an encouraging return from back surgery in his own 18-man invitation event last month.

But even on a course where he has won eight times – including the last of his 14 Majors, the 2008 US Open – the old magic never resurfaced.

The one encouraging sign was that his shot game looked sharp – he scrambled superbly to avoid an even more humiliating exit.

The former world No 1 will now head to Dubai for next week’s Omega Desert Classic in desperate need of a good week.

He can put this setback down to rust and lack of competitive golf.

But the alarm bells will really start if he flops again on another course where he has enjoyed plenty of success. Woods has won the Desert Classic twice, in 2006 and 2008, and is a combined 92 under par for his 28 rounds there.

Woods gave his army of supporters something to cheer when he opened the second round with a birdie four at the 536 yards tenth.

But he gave that shot at the par three 12th when he air-mailed the green and left himself a delicate bunker shot, and the final nail in the coffin came at another ‘short’ hole, the 245 yards third, when his three iron came up well short.

Woods did pick up a second birdie at the long fifth, but the muted applause when he finished with a par five on the ninth told its own story.

He was not the only star to suffer. Both of his playing partners, world No 1 Jason Day and US Open champion Dustin Johnson, also missed the cut on three and two over par respectively.

Woods insisted it was not all doom and gloom, saying: “The positive thing is that I hit it a lot better than I did in the first round, and my putting was good.

“But I’m rusty, and that showed when I came back at the Hero Challenge last month. I made a lot of birdies but I also made plenty of dumb mistakes. It’s going to take time to eliminate them.

“I’ve got a 17 hour flight to Dubai to look forward to next, which will be interesting! But I need more rounds and more competition, and I just wish I’d made it to the weekend here because I really love this golf course.

“It’s frustrating when you don’t play your best, and I’m not the most patient guy in the world. But the target is to get everything in working order for the Masters in April, and I’ll continue to work towards that.”